For business leaders, the struggle between efficiency and innovation is constant. How do businesses meet their customers’ needs while also developing new and improved products and services? And how do you avoid letting people’s biases and entrenched behaviors get in the way? In the article “ Why Design Thinking Works ” from the September-October 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review , author Jeanne Liedtka of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business writes: “the structure of design...
Oct 29, 2025•26 min•Ep. 134
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor at Harvard Business School, believes the world demands a new kind of business leader. She says so-called “advanced leaders” work inside and outside their companies to tackle big issues such as climate change, public health, and social inequality. She gives real-life examples and explains how business leaders can harness their experience, networks, innovative approaches, and the power of their organizations to solve challenging problems. Kanter is the author of the...
Oct 22, 2025•24 min•Ep. 133
Even the most carefully worded and meticiously reviewed contracts can fall apart once they hit the reality of modern business dynamics. Oliver Hart, Nobel-winning Harvard economist, and Kate Vitasek, faculty at the University of Tennessee, argue that, when it comes to contracts, one side often ends up feeling like they’re getting a bad deal, and it can spiral into a tit for tat battle. Hart and Vitasek say that companies should instead consider so-called relational contracts. Their research show...
Oct 15, 2025•22 min•Ep. 132
It’s tough to keep a team motivated when the strategy from the top keeps shifting. That’s the challenge facing a leader in a large global organization. He’s been geting positive feedback on his work, but he’s having trouble leading his team amid conflicting priorities and without direction from his senior leaders. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him through how he can help his team have organizational impact, with or without more clarity from above. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: How D...
Oct 08, 2025•51 min•Ep. 131
Harvard Business School’s Stefan Thomke says running experiments can give companies tremendous value, but too often business leaders still make decisions based on intuition. With the right approach, even small firms can get a competitive advantage from the right kinds of tests. He explains how to introduce, run, and learn from experiments, as well as how to cultivate the right mindset at your organization. Thomke is the author of the book Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business E...
Oct 01, 2025•25 min•Ep. 130
Jennifer Riel , an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management, presents a model way to solve problems: integrative thinking. It enables leaders to move beyond either-or decisions to make stronger choices. She gives examples from the film industry to show how CEOs have put the process to work. Riel is the co-author, along with Roger Martin, of the book Creating Great Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking. Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Transcending Either-Or De...
Sep 24, 2025•20 min•Ep. 129
Leslie K. John and Alison Wood Brooks, professors at Harvard Business School, say people in business can be more successful by asking more and better questions. They talk through what makes for a great question, whether you’re looking to get information or get someone to like you. They’re the coauthors of the article, “The Surprising Power of Questions,” in the May–June 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review. Key episode topics include: business communication, persuasion, behavioral science, deci...
Sep 17, 2025•22 min•Ep. 128
Being on a board is a chance to grow—your mind, your skills, your network, your impact. It’s also another time commitment to fit in, and, for some women, another environment where they have to fight to be heard. So, is the payoff worth the effort? Yes, according to the eight women who volunteered to speak about their experience serving on boards of companies, nonprofits, and schools. They share how they landed a seat, gained confidence in the role, and found unexpected personal and professional ...
Sep 10, 2025•48 min•Ep. 127
Do you need a career makeover? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR: , cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Dorie Clark , the author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future . They talk through how to change your coworkers’ perception of you, transition to a role outside your area of expertise, or be seen as a leader. Key episode topics include: career planning, managing yourself, professional networks Listen to the original De...
Sep 03, 2025•32 min•Ep. 126
Mark Mortensen, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD, discusses the research on “multiteaming”—when employees work not only across multiple projects, but multiple teams. It has significant benefits at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Among them: multiteaming saves money. The cost—stretched employees—is hard to see. And that is where the tension, and the risk, lies. Mortensen is the co-author, with Heidi K. Gardner, of “The Overcommitted Organization” in the September–...
Aug 27, 2025•25 min•Ep. 125
Changing jobs is hard. Changing sectors is daunting. You’ve built a network, a reputation, skills, expertise, a firm grasp of how that industry operates. Maybe you even got a related degree or two! And to just leave all that behind…except that, you really are stuck or unfulfilled or simply underpaid. When it comes to shifting your career, the stakes are high, but so is your potential to succeed. Executive coach Nina Bowman regularly guides people through the process, with all of its uncertainty,...
Aug 20, 2025•55 min•Ep. 124
Imagine you’re leading a small organization, but you’re struggling to recruit and afford the senior talent you need to grow. You could hire a part-time executive. So-called “fractional leadership” is common in startups and is spreading to other businesses and nonprofits. But while a fast-growing number of senior leaders seek this work arrangement, many companies are unsure of how to go about it. Tomoko Yokoi and Amy Bonsall are experts on the practice. Yokoi is a researcher at the TONOMUS Global...
Aug 13, 2025•30 min•Ep. 123
No matter how ambitious and talented you are, rising up and out of mid-level management can be slow going for reasons beyond your control. Maybe it’s because your company doesn’t have a business need—or budget—to upgrade your job title and salary from senior to executive. Or maybe it’s because the person in the position you want has been there forever—and has no plans to leave any time soon. Still, there are plenty of factors that you can control, and cohost Amy Bernstein and her three guests co...
Aug 06, 2025•52 min•Ep. 122
CEOs get a ton of credit or blame for a company’s performance. But the entire leadership team is vital to success, and any dysfunction is often overlooked. Sometimes the CEOs leading them don’t even see that they’re not working. Thomas Keil , management professor at the University of Zurich, and Marianna Zangrillo , a partner at The Next Advisors, have interviewed more than 100 CEOs and senior executives. Their research identifies three main types of failing leadership teams: shark tanks , petti...
Jul 30, 2025•23 min•Ep. 121
Does your organization lack quality leadership? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR: , cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Peter Bregman , the CEO of Bregman Partners and author of the book Leading with Emotional Courage . They talk through what to do when your leaders are indecisive, unprofessional, or value the wrong things. Key episode topics include: leadership, decision making and problem solving, organizational culture, emotional intelli...
Jul 23, 2025•36 min•Ep. 120
Lots of people’s career timelines go something like this: graduate, get a job, get promoted, and keep climbing until you reach the top. Somewhere along the way, they go on autopilot—accepting each new role as it comes, without much thought. And before they know it, they’re positioned for the C-suite. This is exactly what happened to Sarah, a woman who’s on the cusp of a C-level role. But like many leaders, she’s reached a point where the logical next step no longer aligns with what really motiva...
Jul 16, 2025•50 min•Ep. 119
Disruption and transformation are the new normal in nearly every industry. So how do you stay ahead of the curve? Over the past four decades, Bonnie Hammer successfully adapted to massive changes in the media industry, rising from production assistant to leadership roles in broadcast, cable, and streaming. As the former vice chair of NBCUniversal, she has advice on how to get noticed, acquire the right skillsets, make smart decisions, and adjust to shifting corporate and market dynamics. She’s t...
Jul 09, 2025•29 min•Ep. 118
When news breaks of a CEO succession, much of the attention is given to the new leader and how they will change the company. But new research shows that the leave-taking process of the outgoing chief executive is often mishandled, with negative impacts on succession and the organization. Rebecca Slan Jerusalim , an executive director at Russell Reynolds Associates, and Navio Kwok , a leadership advisor at RRA, say that boards are often surprised when a CEO gives notice, and they often make that ...
Jul 02, 2025•29 min•Ep. 117
This month, we’ve been highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In today’s episode, Anish Shah , CEO of Mahindra Group, discusses the importance of purpose in driving profit. With businesses spanning automobiles, finance, real estate, agriculture, hospitality, digital renewables, and more, Mahindra Group is one of India’s largest and most prominent conglomerates. It employs over 260,000 people across more than one hundred countries. In this c...
Jun 25, 2025•30 min•Ep. 116
This month, we’ve been highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In today’s episode, Janti Soeripto , CEO of Save the Children US, shares how the organization navigates overlapping global crises—from pandemics to war—while staying focused on its core mission: ensuring children survive and thrive. With 24,000 staff members working across 115 countries, Save the Children provides health, education, protection, emergency response, and advocacy se...
Jun 18, 2025•32 min•Ep. 115
This month, we’re highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In this episode, David Risher , CEO of Lyft, shares how he’s driving a turnaround at the rideshare company by anchoring everything in customer obsession. Since Risher took the wheel in 2023, Lyft reached record bookings and a 31% increase in annual revenue and its first full year of profitability. Risher shares how his own experience behind the wheel as a Lyft driver informs product i...
Jun 11, 2025•35 min•Ep. 114
Over the next four weeks, we’re highlighting some of the best conversations from the 2025 HBR Leadership Summit held in April. In this episode, Jane Sun , CEO of Trip.com Group, shares her leadership approach to scaling one of the world’s largest online travel companies. From pioneering the use of AI in customer experience and internal operations to reimagining hybrid work and gender diversity, she shares how she’s steering a global company through rapid change and geopolitical uncertainty. She ...
Jun 04, 2025•29 min•Ep. 113
Sydney Finkelstein, a professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, encourages leaders to approach their direct reports like teachers. As Finkelstein explains, being a teacher-leader means continually meeting face to face with employees to communicate lessons about professionalism, points of craft, and life. He says it’s easy to try and that teaching is one of the best ways to motivate people and improve their performance. Finkelstein is the author of “ The Best Le...
May 28, 2025•20 min•Ep. 112
People management consists of a fair amount of mediation and diplomacy, and you can’t expect to get the hang of it right away. You’re in the middle of a lot now. Initiating difficult conversations, and then getting all the way through them, takes planning and practice (and sometimes even a breather). Holding tension takes restraint. Amy Bernstein and Kelsey Alpaio interview Amy Gallo about the types of conflict that new managers should expect to handle, as well as options for responding. They ta...
May 21, 2025•41 min•Ep. 111
Few leaders have been trained to ask great questions. That might explain why they tend to be good at certain kinds of questions, and less effective at other kinds. Unfortunately, that hurts their ability to pursue strategic priorities. Arnaud Chevallier , strategy professor at IMD Business School, explains how leaders can break out of that rut and systematically ask five kinds of questions: investigative, speculative, productive, interpretive, and subjective. He shares real-life examples of how ...
May 14, 2025•28 min•Ep. 110
Is your teamwork not working? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR: , cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Amy Edmondson , a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. They talk through what to do when your team isn’t communicating, doesn’t respect its leader, or has one employee who’s causing problems. Key episode topics i...
May 07, 2025•31 min•Ep. 109
Frances Frei , professor at Harvard Business School, says that trust, empathy—and even a bit of tough love—are all essential ingredients to strong leadership in today’s world. Successful managers focus on the effect they have on others, not themselves. They also define a strategy and create a culture that drives employee behavior in their absence. Frei is the coauthor, along with Anne Morriss, of the book Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You as well as the...
Apr 30, 2025•28 min•Ep. 108
Being too collaborative can actually hold you back at work, argues leadership coach Rebecca Shambaugh . Instead of showing how well you build consensus and work with others, it can look like indecision or failure to prioritize. She explains what to do if you over-collaborate, how to manage someone who does, and offers some advice for women—whose bosses are more likely to see them as overly consensus-driven. Shambaugh is the author of the books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor and Ma...
Apr 23, 2025•23 min•Ep. 107
In the past, executives were usually taught to practice command-and-control leadership. Today they’re often advised to be nimbler, more adaptive, and less controlling. The truth is that most executives need to be able to move back and forth between those two leadership styles. IMD leadership professor and social psychologist Jennifer Jordan offers tactics for navigating these tensions. Key episode topics include: leadership styles, leadership qualities, management, managing people, VUCA, persona...
Apr 16, 2025•12 min•Ep. 106
Do you have an employee working against you? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR: , cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Adrian Gostick , an executive coach and the coauthor of Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results . They talk through what to do when your direct report is creating problems only to fix them, one team member is hoarding knowledge, or two employees have created a disruptive office cl...
Apr 09, 2025•33 min•Ep. 105
